


Community

by orkestrations



Series: Gender is Hard 'verse [26]
Category: Sanders Sides (Web Series)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Human, Breather Episode, Gen, Mostly Fluff, Nonbinary Anxiety | Virgil Sanders, Nonbinary Morality | Patton Sanders, Trans Anxiety | Virgil Sanders, Trans Morality | Patton Sanders, essentially
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-04-16
Updated: 2019-04-16
Packaged: 2020-01-14 21:01:39
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,254
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18484285
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orkestrations/pseuds/orkestrations
Summary: Virgil goes out for coffee with their friends and... joins a band?





	Community

**Author's Note:**

> this is the gihv, here's the pronoun rundown:  
> virgil, they/them  
> patton, he/him  
> remy, they/them  
> october, fae/faer

Some days, the sky just opened up and poured water down onto the cities below. The river was already swollen from a week-long storm, and here it was, pouring again. The vehicles driving by threw up impressive amounts of roadspray behind them, although downtown, at least, they drove slow enough that they weren’t dumping even more water on the pedestrians.

That day, Virgil was actually wearing their raincoat. Usually they wouldn’t bother, since getting wet wouldn’t melt them, but not wearing a raincoat in that weather would be like taking a shower in their clothes. Caoimhe also had her bright red jacket, standing out next to the black of Virgil’s pants, coat, and boots. It would keep her mostly dry, at least, so they wouldn’t feel too mortified taking her into the coffee shop.

Speaking of the coffee shop, they could see it up ahead. There was Remy in their black-and-white coat, entering it. Virgil quickened their pace. The quicker they could get out of the downpour, the better.

Once inside, it took them a few moments to identify the music playing. It wasn’t as clear to them as it used to be, although their hearing aids did help, a little. Remy and October were both already sitting down at the table in the corner, along with a couple of Remy’s friends who Virgil had agreed to meeting. October already had faer coffee.

It took a minute or two for them to order their coffee. That finished, they walked over to the table and sat down, making sure Caoimhe tucked herself out of the way underneath it.

“Hey, Virge!” Remy said, waving at them. “These are my friends, Seraphina and Archer. Seraphina and Archer, this is Virgil.” They gestured at each friend as they said a name.

Seraphina raised a hand. “I use ae/aer pronouns—Remy mentioned you’re cool with learning neopronouns?” Seraphina had aer hair done in silver twists and the gleam of steel from the bar through aer eyebrow stood out against aer skin.

Virgil nodded. “Yeah. They/them for me.”

 “And I use he/him,” Archer said. He was wearing basketball shorts and a grey hoodie advertising the university’s women’s basketball team in green.

“Do you have a friend that plays?” Virgil asked, gesturing at the sweatshirt.

Archer laughed. “Yeah, my girlfriend,” he replied, running a hand through his hair and messing it up even more.

“Alright, now that you’ve all—” Remy began, only to be cut off by Liliana behind the counter.

“Remy! Sera! Archer!” she called out, and Remy sprang to their feet.

“You all stay put, don’t worry queens, I got this,” they said, walking over to the counter.

“So, Virgil, how did you meet Remy?” Archer asked, leaning forward and resting his elbows on the table.

“Through NaNo, actually.” They shrugged.

“Same way I met Remy,” October added.

Seraphina nodded, a thoughtful expression on aer face. “So you’re both writers, then?”

“You might actually be familiar with some of Virge’s work!” Remy said, setting three cups down on the table and sitting back down. “Their pen name is VT Callahan, they write the Amberfell series?”

“No shit,” Seraphina replied, tilting aer head. “My little sisters—and our mom, for that matter—can’t get enough of it. And you’re telling me this tall, awkward…” ae gestured somewhat helplessly in Virgil’s direction, “…punk-looking person wrote that?”

Remy grinned and leaned towards Virgil. Their voice was smug. “Yes, yes they did.”

Virgil’s face was burning. Everyone just couldn’t wait to brag about them, huh. Just couldn’t wait to tell all their friends who somehow had happened to have read their books, huh. Did none of their friends have any concept of the word ‘privacy’?

Oh, well. There were worse things to be recognized for and bragged over, they supposed.

“Yeah, Amberfell’s mine.”

“Oh, I might have to actually read it now. That’ll make my family happy. You mind if I tell them that I actually met the Nyssa writer, for real, in person?” Seraphina asked, leaning back in aer chair.

“I guess.” Virgil shrugged.

“They are gonna be so jealous,” Archer laughed. “What _is_ Amberfell about? I don’t think I’ve heard of the series yet.”

“It’s kind of like a mix between urban and high fantasy,” October said, and then fae shrugged. “I should probably let Virgil explain, though.”

Virgil nodded and took a deep breath. “October’s not wrong. I named the series after the setting. Amberfell is the country it takes place in, and it’s basically… high fantasy, but if it was modern? Like, not urban fantasy, there’s no masquerade or anything going on, it’s just a high fantasy world that’s developed to modern times.”

“Ooh, sounds interesting,” Archer said. “Tell me more.”

“The main character’s name is Nyssa and she’s half fae,” they said.

“Alright, I’m sold,” Seraphina said.

Liliana called Virgil’s name, and they left to fetch their coffee. Coffee fetched, they did their routine of making sure Caoimhe was out of the way before sitting back down again. The group had moved onto talking about school and classes, for the most part.

“What about you, Virgil?” Seraphina asked. “Have you been to college?”

Virgil scoffed. “I never even graduated high school, much less attended college. Although, I have been considering getting my GED, maybe taking some classes.” They rubbed their thumb over the rim of their coffee’s lid.

“Oh, I dropped out of high school, too,” Archer replied. He shrugged and laughed a little. “And now I’m gonna go become a teacher, maybe. Go figure.”

“Oh? What grade level? My best friend teaches fifth grade.”

“High school science stuff, probably.”

“Chemistry was one of my favorite subjects.”

“Hey, mine too!”

Remy groaned. “All this talk of teachers is just… too much! I have an aunt and uncle who are both teachers! And married to each other! And their kid! Ugh! It’s just… too much teacher-ness!”

“Ooh, I feel sorry for their kid. Being the teacher’s kid is _rough_ ,” October added, twirling faer ponytail around faer fingers.

“Tell me about it.” Virgil rolled their eyes.

“Wait.” October slammed faer hands on the table, eyes lighting up. “You’re a teacher’s kid too?”

“Yeah.” They shrugged. “I was never actually in his class though, considering I, y’know, dropped out before I could get there.”

“That must have been a _fun_ conversation,” Seraphina said.

Virgil raised a hand and then dropped it in an aborted train of thought. “I actually haven’t had that conversation yet, to be honest.”

“How’d you get out of it?” Archer asked. “I mean, I know how I got out of it…”

“I ran away with my boyfriend before we could have that conversation.”

“Yeah. Kinda same. The running away part, not the boyfriend part. I’m too lesbian for that.”

Virgil shrugged. “Fair enough.”

“Eugh, it’s like a tragic backstory over-share fest in here,” Seraphina said, grimacing. “Let’s talk about something else, before we all know each other’s deepest secrets or whatever.”

“Like our band!” Remy piped up.

“Your band?”

“The four of us,” Remy gestured at themselves, October, Seraphina, and Archer, “are starting a band!” They grinned.

“What instruments do you all play?”

“I’m vocals,” Remy said. Virgil could see their leg bouncing under that table, despite how cool they were playing it above the table. “And guitar.”

“Also guitar,” Seraphina said.

“I’m keys,” October added.

“And I’m the drummer,” Archer finished.

Virgil rubbed their fingers on the cuff of their sweatshirt. “Well. It sounds like you’re missing a… very important instrument, in your lineup.”

Remy sighed. “I know! We haven’t found anyone willing to play bass with us yet. Oh,” they leaned forward, peering over their sunglasses. “Do you know anyone who plays?”

“Uh.” Virgil bit their lip and looked away, rubbing at the back of their need. “I’ve… been considering finding someone to play with.”

“Wait, you play bass?” October asked. “Since when.”

“Since… always?” They offered a very insecure shrug, looking back at the group. “I picked it up during middle school. Until I left, I was generally the go-to sub for bands where I grew up. And… I did run away with my ex to play bass in his band?”

“Is there no fuckin end to your coolness?” Archer asked. Virgil blushed, again, and looked away, again.

“No, I agree with him, and it’d be really cool to play with you, gurl,” Remy added. “You wanna come by one of our rehearsals sometime, see what we’re like? You have a bass?”

“Yeah, I do,” Virgil replied. “Do you… want to text me when and where you meet? I don’t have an amp, so I’d need to borrow one…”

“We literally just meet up in my moms’ garage,” Remy replied. “And yeah, I think I have one you could hook up to. I’ll text you that info right now.” They pulled out their phone (one of the rose gold iPhones in a clear case—they were a classy one) and started typing, and a few moments later, Virgil felt their phone vibrate. They checked the info and nodded.

“Yeah, I can meet then.” Not that their schedule was particularly full, ever.

“Fuck yeah!” Archer punched the air.

The rest of the coffee shop meeting passed with a light atmosphere. Virgil found themselves clicking easily with Archer and Seraphina- more easily than they had clicked with anyone (with the sole exception of Patton) since before they had run away with their ex.

Once the coffee was finished, the five of them (plus Caoimhe) walked back to the downtown bus station together. The rain had let up slightly—it was now more of a soaking than a deluge. The five of them split up to take their particular busses back: Remy, Archer, and Seraphina taking the bus to the university, Virgil taking their bus, and October taking faers.

Overall, it had been a very good day. Which meant, naturally, that online drama had to stick its face in where it wasn’t wanted.

They were on the bus when they got a message on tumblr, from **thehouseoftarron**.

 **thehouseoftarron:** i kno who started the rumors

[screenshot]

[screenshot]

[screenshot]

It took Virgil a few minutes to look over the screenshot. Those could be easily faked well enough, they knew that from experience.

 **vtcallahan:** how do i know those aren’t faked?

 **thehouseoftarron:** they arent. my friend took them.

 **vtcallahan:** first off, your friend is in a transmed server? second, i still don’t know that they’re not faked.

 **thehouseoftarron:** yeah well. idk believe what you want. im just the messenger

The person did not reply again, and that left Virgil looking at the screenshots, trying to figure out if they were faked.

They didn’t do anything about it until they got home and pulled their laptop out. The screenshots, if they were real, were rather damning, but they just didn’t know.

Corroboration was something they could try to get. Post the screenshots, state that they don’t know whether or not they’re faked, try and get some sort of information. Not that they were likely to get any on tumblr, of all places.

They rolled their eyes and closed out of tumblr. Fixating on it was going to get them nowhere. Instead, they switched to the document containing the next draft of Amberfell and started typing. That rough wasn’t going to finish itself.

Patton came home about half an hour after they had made their decision not to do anything with the screenshots. He opened the door and came inside, a bright grin on his face.

“How did coffee go?” he asked. “Are Remy’s friends nice?”

“Yep,” Virgil replied. “They have a band. I may, actually, be joining said band.”

“Yaaay!” Patton dropped his stuff on the kitchen counter. “I’m so happy for you!” Virgil smiled up at him through their fringe as he walked over. “Have you decided what you’re going to do with your hair yet?” he asked, running his hands through Virgil’s hair. They leaned into the touch.

“I think I am going to grow it out,” they replied. “I’m keeping the bangs, though.”

“Yeah, you gotta have that fringe to hide so adorably behind!” Patton kicked off his shoes and sat down on the other end of the couch. The two of them took a couple moments to find a way to arrange their legs in a comfortable manner, as well as fit Caoimhe in there somehow.

“I hate to be the bearer of gloom and doom again,” Virgil said, pulling their phone out and pulling up the messages from **thehouseoftarron** , “but there’s something I think you need to see.” They handed their phone over, and Patton was quiet as he read the screenshots.

“You know, I have to say, I’m not surprised that it’s a transmed who decided to start the rumors,” he said.

“If they’re real,” Virgil added, and Patton nodded.

“If they’re real. We should probably tell Roman and Logan to keep their eyes out, just in case. Or at least, block her.”

Virgil nodded. “Yeah. I’ll send them in the Discord. I just wanted to make sure I showed you, first.”

Patton sighed. “Yeah. Thank you. I appreciate it.”

A few clicks, and Virgil sent the screenshots in the Discord, along with a short message. It didn’t take long for Roman and Logan to reply, and they both said they were going to block her.

That done, Virgil leaned back and continued typing. This draft was hopefully only a few thousand words from being done, maybe they could finish it tomorrow…

**Author's Note:**

> hope you enjoyed! theoretically next installment should be more intense/feelsy, but, well, best laid plans of mice and men and all that.  
> anyways please please please tell me if you have like. any guesses as to who virgil's family are. i promise you've met at least one of them in the story already. this plot thread is gonna be launching soon (and with enthusiasm) i promise so like i wanna hear y'alls thoughts before i really get going  
> (by soon, i mean it'll be picking up within 10 installments i promise)  
> anyways, if you enjoyed, leave a kudos! and if you feel like it, please tell me what you thought! i love hearing from you and interacting with you.  
> with love,  
> kestrel  
> (ps: my sanders sides tumblr is @logically-analytical. this 'verse has an ask blog, @gender-is-hard-asks.)  
> (also if you come into my comments section shitting on he/him lesbians, you're not even gonna be entertained i'm just gonna block you. same if you come in defending transmedicalism.)


End file.
